


Love in Strange Places

by Eizavie



Category: Tales of Berseria, Tales of Zestiria
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Blood Drinking, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, M/M, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-10
Updated: 2016-11-02
Packaged: 2018-08-20 13:45:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8251253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eizavie/pseuds/Eizavie
Summary: Vampire Zaveid and pirate Eizen AU. Eizen goes to loot an old mansion and befriends--and ultimately falls in love with the town's vampire.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> It's October--time to write multi-chapter vampire AU. (Hopefully I will finish..) 
> 
> Zaveid is in his Tales of Link Vampire clothes and Eizen is in his pirate DLC from Berseria (Without hook hand) The other characters are in tales villager clothing Ov

Eizen finds himself at the steps of rundown mansion in the thick of the woods. The windows are dusty on the outside, some of them are cracked and vines have snuck in to some of the openings. The foundation is made of aged wood and bricks, cracks and splits line the floorboard and the stonewalls have faded to light brown. His captain, Aifread, had asked him to search the supposedly abandoned building for any treasure worth taking. The rumor in town was that a vampire lived mansion so no one dared to go near it. Eizen wasn’t one to believe in the occult so he insisted on journeying alone through the woods. He was after all the captain’s right hand man and a capable brawler. He pushes open the front door with little resistance and steps into the foyer. The furnishing is relatively normal but it’s obvious that the home hadn’t been cleaned in years. A mouse skitters by his feet and disappears into the darkness of one of the halls. Eizen wanders from room to room looking for anything of value. There are some antiques that pique his interest but nothing that would fetch a decent enough price to bring back. After exploring the first floor he makes his way to the grand staircase in the main room. He examines the old walls and appreciates the intricate patterns that adorned it.

The blonde reaches a large ornate door, probably the master bedroom he thinks as he opens it. He freezes, there’s a candle lit inside and he readies a battle stance on instinct.   Eizen expects to see a group of bandits turning to attack him but there is no such sight, how peculiar, there is no one in the room. He looks at the bed, it seems to have been slept in recently. Perhaps a homeless person had stumbled in and was occupying the residence? He turns to leave but a loud noise causes him to jump and spin back around. His eyes dart the room; at the corner he sees a figure sitting at a piano. He squints. A man with long white hair laughs and swings his legs over the piano bench.

“Man I was getting hungry!” The man says as he pushes up his top hat slightly with a gloved hand. “Hi!”

Eizen stands his ground and furrows his brows. “Who are you?”

“I’m the one who should be asking that, I live here you know.” He stands and sashays toward Eizen who tightens his hands into fists. “You here for some bounty huntin’?

“I heard this place was abandoned.”

“Hm? Did you? Or did they tell ya there was a vampire living here?” The man quirked a lip.

“Well I assumed it was abandoned…vampires don’t exist.” He brings a balled fist up and steadies his ground.

“Wait…you’re just here to _loot_? Man, that’s boring.”

“Huh? No! I mean..I was going to take anything of value if the place was empty but…” Eizen lowers his hands. “Do you really live here?” He asked with a bit of concern.

 

They stare at each other for a moment until the other man breaks out into laughter. It’s only then does Eizen notices the pointed fangs in the other’s mouth.

“Oh man, you’re funny. I guess you’re not like the other ruffians who come into town then, huh?” He looks Eizen up and down. “You’re a pirate, though?” Eizen frowns upon noticing the blood orange hue of the other’s eyes as the candle flickered.

 

“I am Eizen of the Aifread pirates, we deal with underground trade but we are pirates of integrity. We only take what’s been abandoned or steal from those who have stolen goods themselves.”

“Aifread? Oh _those_ guys!” The man scratches the back of his head. “Okay, yes I’ve heard about you lot. The townspeople seem to like you all, okay I get it now. Man, guess the rumor kind of backfired this time, huh?”

“I’m afraid I don’t understand.” Eizen says.

“Well the town down there is a port town, yeah? So a lot of baddies would come and rob guys over there constantly. That didn’t sit well with me and I’ve got a lot of friends over in there so we made a deal to spread a rumor about me living up here so guys would come over for a bounty on my head and I’d deal with them. It’s a nice way to weed out some trouble.”

“You fight them yourself?”

“Mhm.” The man looks pleased with himself as he folds his arms.

“What do you do with them? You kill them and bury them in the woods?”

“What? No! I chomp them a bit and throw them over the cliff back there into the ocean. Don’t worry I make sure they’re awake and that fall won’t kill anybody, they usually swim away to a nearby shore and are too terrified to return around here, hah!”

Eizen is intrigued by the story but also confused. “ _Chomp_ …what do you mean by that?”

“Ya know, like bite? See?” He pushes his lip up with a finger to reveal a canine. “I get a meal out of the townspeople ‘sending’ guys up here.”

“You mean…you really are a vampire?!” Eizen steps back.

“Did my whole wardrobe not give it away…?” He says sarcastically. “But man, I was getting kind of hungry so this sucks. Guess I’ll have to go to town for some cow blood or something…”

“You can do that?” Eizen asks skeptically. He’s ready for the vampire to jump him at the slightest opening.

“I can, but it tastes terrible. But ya know, gotta do what you gotta do to survive, right? He walks away and sits on the bed.

 

Eizen stays in place and eyes the man curiously. “You’re quite different from how I imagined vampires to be in stories…unless you’re posing as one and this is all some kind of joke.”

“Those things in books are pretty much all lies, I love garlic _and_ taking naps out in the sun!” He smiles. Eizen is a little annoyed by his sincere looking face. “By the way my name is Zaveid. You said you were—Eizen? Nice to meet your acquaintance. Care to accompany me back to town?”

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying really hard to make it so that this story doesn't contain spoilers for the game even if it is AU. Mainly there's a name I won't mention it so please read without fear!

“So how long are you guys in town for?” Zaveid asks with Eizen trailing behind him. The sun begins the set and dusk rolls in faster than the pirate had anticipated.

“We’re waiting on a client for a trade deal. Could last as long as a month depending on how things go.” He dodges a low hanging branch. The vampire in front of him suddenly stops and throws a hand back—his cape whirls as he does so.

“Shh.” He hushes and motions for Eizen to step back. Several wolf-like beasts step out from behind the heavy bushes, they bare their saliva slickened teeth and growl at the two men. “Looks like we have some company, get behi—“

“I got this.” Eizen dashes forward and pummels one of the beasts with a round house punch in the muzzle. The beast goes flying, the sight causes the vampire to compliment him with a whistle. The pirate sets his sights on another beast that jumps at him, he springs to the side and grabs the creature by the scruff of its neck and hurls it against the base of a tree. Two more rush him and he kicks one in the chin---but as he brings his foot down he steps on an outlying root and loses his footing briefly. The other creature pounces toward him. He can see its large fangs—he brings up his arms to avoid damage to his face but suddenly some force pulls the monster back and he watches as it’s slammed to the ground. “What the?” He looks up to see that Zaveid has his arm outreached; the shine of metal reveals itself between his index and middle finger. Looking closer Eizen can see a nearly invisible string attached to it. Zaveid had lassoed the beast’s hind leg with the weapon, he uses another with his other arm and strikes one more monster with it. They yelp in pain and scurry away from the two and back into the darkness of the forest. Once the danger is gone Zaveid flicks both his hands and like magic the weapons disappear.

“You okay?” He asks.

“Yes.” Eizen says begrudgingly. “Thank you.” He looks up at the sky as the last bit of light from the sun vanishes. He hears the rustle of leaves and sees that Zaveid continues walking on ahead—but he sways a little and grabs a nearby tree trunk to steady his balance. “Are you alright?” Eizen asks as he steps forward. The vampire pants a little and wipes his forehead.

“Y-yeah, just a little light headed.” He swallows and looks at Eizen nervously, they catch each other’s gaze and Zaveid quickly looks away. “Let’s go, your guys are probably worried about you, right?”

“Mm.” Eizen grunts.

 

Zaveid seems to be alright now but Eizen can’t help but feel a little nervous knowing that this man was a vampire. Didn’t vampires suck your blood? He said that he was different from what Eizen had read but he didn’t want to risk being in a situation where he woud have to square off against this guy. It was dark so he wasn’t completely sure of where he was going, for all he knew the vampire could be luring him to his doom. If this was a trap Eizen was prepared to kill the man in an instant, that much he was sure of. In the end he uneventfully follows Zaveid the rest of the way back to the town. He internally breathes a sigh of relief. As they walk the streets most of the merchants have closed down shop and residents have returned to their homes. However, one establishment emits lights from its windows. The Shepherd is the most popular pub in town and a boisterous crowd is in tonight. Eizen follows Zaveid inside and coincidentally finds that his crew is gathered around a table with drinks in hand. He feels a hand pat his shoulder, it’s Aifread.

 

“Where’ve you been, Eizen?! We were getting worried!”

“Eizen, Eizen!” Benwick waddles over and practically shoves a mug of ale at the pirates face. “Drink up!”

“Benwick you’re too young to be drink-“

“Let’em live we’re celebrating tonight!” Aifread slams his hand against Eizen’s back, he winces. “You want good news or bad news first?”

“If we’re celebrating why is there bad news…”

“Well good news is we already signed the deal with the Sparrowfeathers this afternoon. Bad news is their delivery guys ran into some trouble and it’ll another week or so for it to get here.” Aifread plops down on a chair. “So we’re grounded for awhile.”

“Oh I see, that’s not terrible news.” Eizen leans against the table, his eyes look around the crowd.

“Who’s your friend there?” He points a pinky at Zaveid who made his way to the bar. He’s talking to a thin young man with light blue hair and bright magenta eyes, he nods at Zaveid with a smile and disappears into the kitchen. A woman with fair skin and long hair taps the vampire on the shoulder and the two exchange a brief conversation. She laughs when he makes a funny face, what looks to be an imitation of Eizen, the woman peers at the pirate’s direction and smiles.

“I met him in the mansion.”

“Really? You guys didn’t get into a scuffle?” Aifread downs the last of his beer.

“Well there were some beasts in the forest but we took care of them.” Eizen sips his ale and clears his throat. “Says he’s a vampire.” That makes Aifread chuckle.

“There are all sorts of characters out there, huh? Say did you find anything good?” The information doesn’t seem to faze him at all.

“Unfortunately no. Nothing there would fetch a high price on the market.” Eizen shrugs. He watches as Zaveid comes back and tilts his hat at Aifread.

“Hey, you the captain?” Zaveid smiles.

“Aifread’s the name.”

“The townsfolk really like ya. Heard you all are pretty nice for a gang of pirates.” He pulls up a stool and sits.

“Well I’m glad we’re well received. And who might you be?”

“Zaveid.” He offers a hand and Aifread takes it. “You all are looking for treasure?”

“As pirates yes, that’s always the ideal.”

“There’s an old mine a ways from here, there might be something worth finding in the tunnels. Used to be a gem mine but the thing collapsed a few decades ago. Other guys have probably looted some of it but there’s a big ol’ monster there that keeps most intruders out. If you all are desperate enough for some goods there’s a tip for ya on the house.” He snaps his finger.

“Thanks for info. Nothing in return, though?” Aifread asks skeptically as he rubs his beard.

“Okay, I’m actually flat broke so can I put my meal on your tab?” He winks and leans his chin on a palm. Aifread guffaws but agrees, Eizen rolls his eyes but is a bit excited at the mention of hidden gems. He was also one who loved battle—fighting a beast in exchange for treasure sounded like a grand ol’ time.  

“Hey, Zaveid. Here’s your drink, lemme know if you need another ‘kay?” The young man returns and gives a glass of something red to him.

“Thanks, Mikleo.” He sips it. “Where’s my man Sorey?”

“He’s sick, I think he caught a cold.”

“Hmm? _Sick_ , huh?” Zaveid eyes him curiously. “Wore him out did ya?” He snickers. Mikleo pouts and scowls a little.

“N-no it’s not like that! We got caught in the rain yesterday and—“

“You guys got cold and you kept him warm? That’s cute.”

“Agh, geez. I have to get back to work, let me know if you need anything else.” Mikleo turns to Aifread. “Another glass, sir?”

“Ah, no thank you lad.”

 

Mikleo gathers the empty glasses on the table and makes his way through the rowdy crowd and back to the bar. Eizen sits down beside Zaveid and rests his chin in the palm of his hand.

“Is that the ‘blood’ you were talking about?” Eizen looks at the glass skeptically.

“Mmhm. They make blood sausage here but sometimes they’ll have extra blood around since I stop by occasionally. I’m friends with the guys who own the place. We go way back.” He sips it and quirks his lip. “Honestly, I’m not a big fan of the stuff though.”

“You prefer human blood?” Eizen asks quite bluntly. Aifread looks at his assistant captain and raises a brow wondering why he was so hung up on this.

“Well, in terms of taste yes. But I can’t just go around biting people you know? I’ll get a stake in my chest in no time.”

“It’s odd that people aren’t scared of you being a vampire.”

 

Zaveid swirls the blood around in his glass and looks lost in thought for a little while. “I’ve known a lot of the adults here since they were kids, not everyone likes me but I’d say a good majority do. At least I don’t bother them in a way that makes them dislike me. There’s good and bad vampires just like there are humans, right?” He smiles at Eizen. “There were a lot of miner’s kids back in the day --they used to swing by my place all the time a while back, we’d play with them and stuff and they’d go home before dark to their parents.”

            “We?”

Zaveid takes a drink and sets down the empty glass. “That hit the spot---sorta.” Aifread sits beside Eizen and pulls out a map to lay on the table.

            “Zaveid, could you tell me where I might find these mines. I may gather some of my men to head out this week.”

            “Ho? You’re really going? It’s dangerous.”

            “We’re pirates, we thrive in danger!” He gives a toothy grin. Zaveid points to a mountainous area on the map and exhales noisily.

            “Well, it’s in this area but the place might be hard to find because of all the landslides that happened…I could take you all there if you like.”

            “Really? That would be much appreciated.”

            “Aifread…” Eizen interrupts. He pulls him aside and whispers into his ear. “Look, I just met this guy…we don’t know what his intentions are or if this is some sort of elaborate ruse.”

            “He doesn’t seem so bad to me. If anything he should be more weary of _us_.”

            “He could have companions.”

            “I think you’re over thinking things per usual.”

 

Zaveid sits there with a dumb grin on his face. He finds it amusing with Eizen glaring at him from time to time.

 

            “So it’s settled, we’ll have you escort us to the mines! What would you like for compensation?”

            “I don’t expect you all to find it but there’s something I lost in there a long time ago.”

            “What did you lose?” Aifread asks.

            “A necklace.”

            “Oh, is that it? You don’t want anything more?” Aifread feels Eizen elbow him in the side. He shoves Eizen a little with his hand. “I know—how about we give you some human blood, eh? It’s a nice delicacy for you am I right?”

            “You offering me _your_ blood?” Zaveid raises a brow.

            “Naw, how about his?” He throws an arm around Eizen and laughs.

            “ _Aifread_.”

            “He has a nice amount of iron in him, loves that spinach. How much do you need usually? Just a little bit from what I saw of you drinking there.”

            “About a cup a day is usually fine for me. But I don’t drink another’s blood without consent---unless of course I just don’t like them.” He shrugs. “It’s not necessary, I’m just in this for the ride.” He looks at Eizen and brings a hand to his lips. “Though you do look like the tasty type.”

            “You…”

            “Fantastic, shall I get you a room at the inn? We can set out tomorrow!”

            “I get a bed too? Nice deal!”

 

Eizen watches as Aifread and Zaveid continue in conversation about other things. He’s annoyed—but also excited about the next day. He finds himself looking at Zaveid, he wasn’t a half bad looking guy- _no Eizen what are you thinking??—_ he shakes his head and leans an elbow against the table. Something about the vampire’s laid-back personality doesn’t sit well with him…but he also feels drawn to the other. Perhaps it was his charisma or vampires had some sort of power to draw other’s toward them. He tries to recall if he read that in a book somewhere.


	3. Chapter 3

Aifread brings four others with him plus Eizen to go on the day long trek, they rent horses for the road which worked well for a large span of the journey until they got to the mountains. Just as Zaveid had mentioned earlier landslides had occurred and many of the paths had been destroyed or covered in rubble. Dusk settles in and they decide to make camp for the night and venture through the mountain pass and then to the mines in the morning. The horses rest beside the boulders they are tied to as the others gather around a campfire. The men reminisce about old stories and share some with their new comrade. Zaveid listened thoughtfully finding it amusing to listen to the humans conversation. He offhandedly mentioned he used to travel a lot a long time ago. Eizen is quiet most of the time as he sips water from his flask; He eyes the vampire as he warms up some blood in a canister by the fire. He assumes he had it packed for him by the bar owners to take with him on the trip. Zaveid catches Eizen staring at him and grins.

            “Wanna try?”

            “I’m good.” Eizen sits back against a tree trunk and gazes at the fire.

            “You live by yourself in the mansion?”

            “Yeah, I don’t sleep there all the time though. I’ll visit my buddies in town and crash in their place on occasion. The house is real quiet so it can get lonely sometimes.” He murmured.

            “It’s a big place. You’ve always been there?”

            “For the past thirty or fourty years? Yeah.” He takes off his hat and places it on the ground and lays on his back to stare at the stars.   “It’s kind of nice to go traveling with a group. This is fun.” He throws one leg over the other and bounces his foot.

            “We really don’t do anything today other than ride horseback.” Eizen laughs.

            “It’s nice having company though, don’t you agree?” He turns his head to Eizen. The pirate thinks on it for a bit.

            “No you’re right. I can’t imagine having the life I did back then when I wasn’t a part of the crew.” He watches thoughtfully as the others have fallen asleep, the fire illuminates their faces.

            “Weren’t a pirate your whole life?”

            “I was a hitman for a long time—it was lonely. Aifread said he saw something in me and well, the rest is history.”

            “Hitman, huh? I can think of at least a few skills that would help out with the pirate job set, heh.” He brings his hands behind his head.

           

            The fire crackles and one of the logs within the flames pops. The others grumble in their sleep and roll away from the light; there’s only the sound of the campfire and quiet chirping of crickets. Zaveid begins to hum a tune and Eizen listens to him in silence. The melody is peaceful---yet melancholy. The pirate is drawn to it, his mind wanders---he thinks about his sister, Edna, and how he hasn’t seen her in such a long time. He had left her in their hometown a continent away—his life as a hitman wasn’t safe for her and neither was being a pirate. He wanted to visit her soon.

 

 

The group rises early and traverses the rocky terrain and finally, to the entrance of the old mines. The opening is caved in, only a small opening remains on top---just big enough for an adult to squeeze through. They go in one by one, the inside is almost pitch black until they light up their torches. Aifread leads the way and marches through the rubble. The floor is uneven with cracked stone and pushed up dirt. They walk by a mine shaft, its drop so deep that when one of the crew members kick a rock inside it doesn’t make a sound for what seems like forever. Eizen orders everyone to be careful of their footing as they walk in further.     As they go deeper into mines the scenery begins to change, there is pale dim light further into the path. They approach cautiously---and reach an open area filled with luminescent gems above. The men gawk at the sight wondering how much they could fetch with such things.

            “Don’t bother with those, the nice stuff is a little deeper in.” Zaveid continues walking on ahead.

            “There’s something nicer??”   One of them asks.

            “These pale ones are pretty common but there’s a reservoir here with some real pretty blue ones, if I remember correctly we go down this path for a few minutes then we---“

 

Suddenly there’s a loud rumble and the ground shakes. Everyone straightens up, their eyes dart the area wondering if this was an earthquake or if there mine collapse by them.

            “Well, guess that thing is still here…” Zaveid sighs.

            “Thing? What thing?!” Eizen exclaims.

            “I told ya, there’s a monster lurking here remember?”

            “I thought you were kidding!”

            “No? Why would I kid about that? But don’t worry I think you and I can take it ou—“

 

            Part of the ceiling breaks---rocks and gems hit the ground and scatter dust and debris all around. Through the smoke an enormous salamander-like creature emerges and shrieks. The other’s blood drains from their faces; they huddle together behind Aifread. The captain clicks his tongue and tells them to pull their act together, after all they were pirates. He takes out a gun from his jacket and steadies it in his hand. Eizen and Zaveid rush the beast as it thrusts its tail at them. They dodge, Zaveid hurls a pendulum at one of its eyes and lands on a boulder.

            “Things a lil’ skinnier than I remember—guess it doesn’t get to eat humans often anymore.” He slams another down onto its back, it shrieks and squirms on the ground. Eizen runs forward and punches its side and then slams his foot into the beast’s chest. It squeals but then spits forth a ebony stained goo. It lands near Aifread and the others. The liquid makes a sizzling noise—and melts the ground beneath it. The others panic and run away from the stuff. Aifread shoots several rounds at the beast, a bullet catches one of its legs. It spits at him and he barely dodges. At this point the creature had laid an acid trail across the room dividing Aifread and his men to the entrance of the area, Zaveid looped a pendulum around the monsters tail and yanked. He successfully drew its attention and it came rushing at him. He jumps over its spit attack and jumps to the side as Eizen brings a heavy thrust of his foot down to the beasts head.  
            “Get em’, Eizen!!” The other’s yell. Truth be told the beast wasn’t as powerful as he thought it would be but perhaps the beast was weak from hungry as Zaveid had mentioned. It seems to be getting tired or too injured to move so Eizen gets ready for the final blow. He pulls back a fist and begins running toward it---but all of the sudden there’es a loud cracking noise. Zaveid and the others yell something incoherent but all Eizen can think about is how the ground is shifting and he’s losing his footing and—he’s falling? He looks up and the figures of his comrades are shrinking in the distance. Did the ground give away?! Eizen sees the beast falling with him--- _I guess this is how I’m going to die…I’m sorry Edna_. It gets darker the more he falls down. He hears the debris around him hitting the ground---he’ll be next—soon. Something warm closes in around his waist and he feels himself being lifted up momentarily. Its noisy, and he hears everything crashing around him and then silence. He’s not dead—or injured for that matter. It’s dark, but not pitch black. A few gems light up the floor and he feels himself being set down on the ground. He hears someone sigh.

            “I guess we’re going to have to find our way back up, huh?” It’s Zaveid’s voice. Eizen stirs from the floor and slowly gets stands, he grabs a gem and holds it up. It’s just bright enough to light up both their faces.

            “How did you…”

            “I can make myself levitate momentarily, you’re lucky I caught you in time.” Zaveid takes a few steps in the dark and finds the monster, it’s dead. He looks around at the place and tries to recall it from his memory but it has been a long time.

            “Can you fly us out of here?”  Eizen asks rather calmly.

            “That I can’t do.” He chuckles and walks away from Eizen. “You keep that rock with you, I can at least see down here so don’t worry about me—just make sure you don’t trip or set off another pitfall. We’ll be walking around for a looong time.”

 


	4. Chapter 4

They climb over broken shafts and weave their way through rocky tunnels. He’s not sure how long they’ve been walking, maybe an hour or two. Eizen makes sure to walk closely behind Zaveid since he can’t see well.   At last there is some light at the end of the tunnel, at the opening they stand before a luminescent lake. Eizen’s eyes light up, it’s beautiful. There are blue gems in the crystal clear water—they must have been the ones Zaveid was talking about. Eizen walks forward but is halted.

 

            “Don’t. Move.” Zaveid whispers.

Eizen becomes alert and looks up. Above them on a tall cliff in the center of the lake is another beast—even larger than the one before. It tilts its head, its gills quiver slightly and it sniffs the air.

            “I knew that other one seemed to small…Zaveid backs them both away at the entrance but he kicks a pebble on accident and it rolls into the water. The beast shrieks and lunges at the two. Zaveid shoves Eizen out of the way and somersaults back letting the monster crash into the ground between them.

            Eizen’s eyes widen at the crater the beast made simply with its weight. He knows that he would’ve broken at least a couple of his bones from an impact like that. Looking at its size the creature is too big for him to merely punch to death. He looks around the area wondering if he could use anything as a weapon. Zaveid whips the monster with his pendulums, it does some damage to its skin but none of them would be lethal. The beast opens its jaws and clamps down on one of the strings and throws its head back ripping the weapon from Zaveid’s hand. He’s caught by surprise and the beast takes the opportunity to swipe at him with a front claw. He’s thrown rather harshly into the water; Eizen calls for him---he notices then above where Zaveid had fallen is the cliff and under it were large stalactites. Perfect.

            “Zaveid, above you!”

Zaveid stands up from the shallow water and looks up---It was worth a try. Eizen grabs a rock and throws it at the monsters head to bring its attention. He begins dashing into the water towards Zaveid and hears the monster behind him approaching fast. The vampire hurls his remaining pendulum upwards and lassoes a large stalactite and pulls hard. Eizen is sprinting trying not to trip in the water, his heart is pounding and he knows he could be beheaded in one bite if the beast caught up with him.   There’s a loud cracking noise and Zaveid yells as he catapults the sharp stone into the beast’s head, Eizen jumps up and punches the base of it for good measure---it pierces straight through the monsters skull. It flails for a short time before finally collapsing into the water. Eizen and Zaveid cautiously walk away from its body and back to dry land, they both sit down to gather their breath.

            “We make a good team, huh?” Zaveid laughs as he wrings out his cape.

            “That was probably one of the biggest monsters I’ve fought.” Eizen wipes his forehead and swallows. “Better drink some of this water before its blood reaches here.” He takes out his flask from his jacket and dips it into the water.

            “Good idea, I was getting hungry so I should…where…” Zaveid pats himself and stands up abruptly. “Where did? Did I lose it when we fell back there?”

            Eizen sips at his water and eyes Zaveid. “Can’t you drink that monsters blood?”

            “Are you kidding? That thing’ll make me sick! Man, this isn’t good.” He sounds a bit like he’s panicking Eizen notices.

            “If…you really need to you can have some of my blood.”

            “No it’s fine. As long as we get out of here soon I’ll be okay.”

            “Okay? What happens if you don’t drink?”

            “First I’ll get really lethargic but if it goes on for too long...uh I can get feral.” Zaveid gulps and looks away. “I’ll go back and find it.”

            “That’s going to take too long, it already took us awhile to get over here. And you don’t exactly know where or when you dropped it.”

 

Zaveid paces around trying to think of what to do. He looks at the lakes exit tunnel and furrows his brows.

 

            “I think it will take us another hour to reach the entrance—assuming the tunnels haven’t been blocked and we don’t run into something else. I can probably find some animal outside to hunt…” He bends down to and plucks a few gemstones from the water. “ Wanna take some back? Even just one of these can sell for a good price.” Eizen nods and scours the water for a few small enough to stuff into his jacket. Once he’s satisfied with the amount he follows Zaveid through a hidden corridor in the area and they walk up a steep flight of makeshift stairs. Luckily the walls are still lined with some luminescent stones so he watches the ground to make sure he doesn’t slip. It was quite the workout—traversing through the small nooks and crannies of the trail but they finally reach level ground and decide to walk the rest of the way. They take a small breather and Eizen opens his flask and downs some of his water—but feels a little guilty when he catches Zaveid look and him and then away quickly. He notices the vampire looks paler than he did before. Eizen screws back on the cap of his flask and tugs down his scarf baring his neck.

 

            “Come on, you can drink a little?” Eizen says almost exasperated.

            “It’s fine. I’ll be okay…once we get outside I can find something.”

            “Don’t worry about it. Just don’t drink all of my blood or try anything funny, alright? I owe you one anyway.” He mumbles.

 

Zaveid gulps—his lip quivers---without thinking he steps close to Eizen. He’s so hungry but this doesn’t feel right. But his hunger wins out and he slowly sinks his teeth at the base of Eizen’s neck.

 

It hurts a little but it’s tolerable, Eizen stands there quietly as Zaveid drinks from his flesh. He’s a little concerned with how much the other is panting against him, he feels Zaveid lean into him—almost collapsing.

            “Zaveid?” Eizen reaches up and puts his hand on either side of the others arms. He moans against Eizen’s neck and slowly pulls back. He wobbles a bit as he stands but his knees give out. “What’s wrong?!” Eizen catches him—he sees the small trickle of blood on Zaveid’s lip.

            “Y-your blood…is really sweet.” Zaveid gasps.

Eizen is confused. “Sweet? Is that bad?”

Zaveid shakes his head and tries to pull himself away from Eizen’s grip but he feels weak. “It’s…it’s hard to explain. It’s like I’m drinking a really hard liquor or---.”

Eizen deadpans. “So…you’re drunk?”

            “Erm, not exactly.” He sighs and sits down on the ground and tries to compose himself. He covers his mouth with a gloved hand and avoids Eizen’s gaze. A small blush brightens up his cheeks and he tries to cover himself with his cape. The pirate catches the movement and turns his head a little to look down at the vampire---then he sees it. Zaveid’s got a hard on. Eizen clears his throat and walks a few steps away poorly pretending he didn’t notice.

            “How much further until the exit.”

            “Uh…” Zaveid swallows. “We’re close, we can probably get there in a few min—“

 

Suddenly they hear echoed shouting through the tunnels, “Eizen? Zaveid?” It was Aifread’s voice. Some footsteps could be heard coming their way and the others emerge from the pathway. “Thank goodness, you guys are alive!” Aifread grabs Eizen by the shoulders and shakes him.

“We thought you were goners!” One of the young men cries.

            “It’s a good thing there were more paths, huh?” Another says and he hugs Eizen. The blonde smiles, relieved that his companions were in one piece as well but he looks back and frowns when he sees that Zaveid has distanced himself from them.

            “What was that about…” Eizen whispers to no one in particular.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for grammatical and spelling errors. ;;_;; I usually go back and try to edit them but I tend to miss things a lot.


	5. Chapter 5

One of the pirates flips over a satchel and empties its contents onto the ground---gems, old jewelry and dirt-caked coins settled into a pile.

            “You guys found all this?” Eizen picked up a dirty pocket watch and examined it.

            “While we were looking for you two we swiped some things here and there, not sure if these’ll be worth anything though.” Aifread strokes his beard. He studies the blue gems that Eizen had brought back and grins. “Glad you were able to find _these_ though---Ah which reminds me.” He turns to Zaveid who’s standing away from the group and feeding one of the horses a carrot. “What did ya want for an award?” He calls to him. The vampire gives the rest of the vegetable to the hungry animal and trots over to where the rest of the group was. “Slice of the dough we’ll make or maybe you have a job you want us to do?”

            Zaveid taps his finger to his chin. “There isn’t really anything in particu—“ He stops midsentence as his eyes settle on the pile of goods splayed across the floor. He bends down and picks up a necklace, its dusty and faded. “T-this…you found this in the mines?” He rubs some of the grim off revealing a shiny blue bead.

            “A few paths from where you guys fell, thought I could sell the silver part of that for a gald or two…that’s all you want?” Aifread asks. Eizen elbows his captain in the arm wondering why he’s trying to be so generous.

            Zaveid nods and looks at the item quiet fondly. “Yeah…this is all I want.” He curls his fingers around it and brings it to his chest—he catches Eizen gazing at him and gives a small smile. “This is actually mine, someone gave it to me a long time ago—thought it was gone forever.”

            “Is that right?” Aifread eyebrows rise in surprise. “Well I’m glad we got it back to you then!” He pats Zaveid on the shoulder and ushered him to sit with the crew.

The pirate furrows his brows and watches as Zaveid sits by the fire and listens to his captain talk about their trade deal in town. Eizen’s not sure why but the sight puts him in a bad mood. It’s not logical for him to feel this way, instead he should be happy that Zaveid had no ulterior motives besides helping them to find some treasure—except... He brings up a hand and rubs his neck. Almost on cue Zaveid looks back at him and Eizen swears his eyes widen a little but the vampire clears his throat and asks Aifread something---he’s not sure what because at this point he’s not paying attention. Eizen tries to gather his thoughts. It can’t be that…Zaveid is attracted to him. He crosses his arms and bites the inside of his cheek. Maybe the vampire just thought of him as a tasty snack? But he was reluctant to take any of his blood before. Something about his blood being sweet---Did that even mean anything? Any time his lips were chapped he hated the iron and bitter taste of his own blood. He’s still looking at Zaveid---he knows he’s making the other uncomfortable under his gaze. Eizen has been with men and women before---but never something of a different…species? Were vampires still technically humans? He tries to remember…he recalls something about them previously being human. Eizen’s thoughts are cut short however when Zaveid stands up and says something to Aifread but then leaves.

 

“Where are you going?” Eizen blurts out.

“To fetch some dinner.” Zaveid quirks his mouth. “Why, wanna come?”

Eizen hesitates, his feet seem to move on their own and he follows the vampire into the darkening forest. The pirate isn’t really sure what type of animal Zaveid was looking for—the only nocturnal animals they might be able to find were bats and raccoons and he was pretty sure those weren’t appetizing even for a vampire. Unless…Eizen stops. The clouds above slowly disperse to reveal the moonlight in the clearing they were in. Zaveid confusingly looks back and wonders what’s wrong and see’s that Eizen has pulled back the collar of his jacket.

            “Eizen?”

            “You were hungry, right? That’s why you called me out here?” Eizen sighs.

            “Huh, I didn’t _call_ you. I asked if you wanted to come.” Zaveid snorts. “I was gonna see if there was something I could find—“ He looks as Eizen raises his hands up to the bite wound that he had given him. He scratches at the scab and blood oozes out causing Zaveid to step back. “ _What_ are you doing?” He grabs Eizen’s arm and yanks it down but suddenly Eizen pushes him back against a tree and shoves his face up close.

            “The others won’t see, you can drink it.” The sight of the red liquid is tantalizing and Zaveid feels his mouth water.

            “It’s okay?” Zaveid almost whispers. Eizen gives a slight nod, his eyes are piercing. Zaveid swallows and slowly leans in to lap up the blood; he suckles Eizen’s neck and tries to recall when he’s had something so delicious. His body feels warm and he can feel his body sinking against the pirate’s.

“Hey I wanted to know…why you were being so friendly towards me.” Eizen reaches down and grabs Zaveid between the legs.” Are you into guys?”

It takes Zaveid a moment to register what Eizen is doing—he gasps and squirms back against the trunk of the tree. The pirate rubs his erection causing Zaveid to make a soft moan.

“Thought so.” Eizen whispers against his ear.

            “No, It’s just that you…”

            “I what?” Eizen fidgets with the belt on Zaveid’s pants.

            “You smelled nice…” He mumbles.

Eizen isn’t really sure what that means, he doesn’t particularly care at the moment and just wanted to test the waters and see what he could do. Zaveid wasn’t pushing him away at this point so he undid the vampire’s belt and snuck a hand down to squeeze the base of his cock. Zaveid shutters at the touch and grabs at Eizen’s coat as he stroked him.

            “What’re you doing?” Zaveid pants, he unknowingly spreads his legs a little. Eizen doesn’t answer; instead he kneels down and takes Zaveid into his mouth. “H-Hey! St—ah…” Zaveid’s mind is panicking and he’s not sure why Eizen is suddenly sucking him off like this in the forest. He looks at the moon and thinks, _why did I bother helping them out anyway? That’s right, I was lonely._ Eizen smoothes his hand against the vampire’s thigh and squeezes. Zaveid keens and grabs a fist full of Eizen’s hair. The blonde hums and moves his other hand up to cup Zaveid’s ass. “Stop I’m…gonna come…hey.” Eizen ignores him and downs him more and moves his tongue with such expertise that Zaveid has to question how times Eizen done this but suddenly he’s coming and brings up his hands to muffle his cries as he rides out his orgasm—he doesn’t remember the last time he’s done something like this. He shudders against Eizen’s mouth and shakily exhales and sinks to the floor in a daze. Eizen wipes his mouth with the back of his hand and leans in close to whisper into the vampire’s ear.

            “Looks like we have some things to discuss.”

            “Like what, wanted to be fuck buddies or something?” He chuckles. “Gotta admit I did kind of like that…Thought you were straight though.” He makes a lopsided grin.

            “I’m in town for the rest of this month.”

            “You told me.”

            “So?”

Zaveid crouches forward and licks Eizen’s neck. “Okay, you gotta promise me one thing though…”

            “Hm?”

            “You can’t fall in love with me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...not sure if I'm going to go the sad ending or happy ending route yet...


End file.
